In a conventional network, counters can be used to monitor the network. By monitoring the network, it is possible to manage SLAs to perform troubleshooting or to enable preemptive actions within the network. In a conventional network, monitoring is performed by using counters implemented in the MAC layer. However, implementation of a MAC layer requires significant chip resources, in particular power supply and chip area.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for monitoring a performance of an Ethernet data stream for devices without any MAC layer implementation.